Organized crime in the ancient world.

Piracy and banditry were to the preindustrial world what organized crime is to modern society

in the modern world the difference between lawful and unlawful is remarkably clear. governments less stable than what we (in europe) have now don't really differentiate themselves from mob all that much. consequently it's harder to tell what is organized crime and what is an alternate government.

How are bandits and pirates not organized crime? As far as I know, organized crime is basically crime committed by multiple people in cooperation.

>>1577098
two bums can cooperate. cooperation =/= organization.

>>1577179
How? If there's a guy leading the bandit group with a second in command and a bunch of lackeys following orders, that sounds like organization to me.

>>1577015
Also, to answer ops question, weren't there criminal syndicates and organized gangs in Rome? Wasn't that a big part of the political process, appeasing the criminal syndicates that did basically what modern mafia rings do today?

>>1577098

Not OP, but "organized crime" usually refers to syndicates that survive by extorting illegitimate and semi-legitimate economic activity instead of running around stealing things themselves.

So a band of bandits isn't "organized crime" even if there's a degree of organization within the bandit band. If someone else is demanding a toll to allow the bandits to keep operating in a particular territory, that person/group is an example of organized crime.

>>1577018
Pretty sure you also had pimps and smugglers.

What if all the great warrior civilizations we all know and respect started out as groups of bandits?

>>1577015
yes before the state and there was city-state. Just as bad as.

>>1577301

If your really want your mind blown, ask yourself what the difference is.

>>1577215
>>
>Not OP, but "organized crime" usually refers to syndicates that survive by extorting illegitimate and semi-legitimate economic activity instead of running around stealing things themselves.
Good thing that ''illegitimate and semi-legitimate'' are utterly relative

>>1577407

In the local context, it's pretty easy to understand.

"Legitimate" businesses have no fear of going to the actual authorities when someone tries to demand extortion from them. Other businesses do not have that luxury.

>>1577015
China had Kongsis. Which were clannish organizations that subverted the law by being a Clan's "Embassy" in the city.

Chinese clans often lived in rural ancestral villages and when times get tough, they often call for help with their relatives in the cities. Usually a rich relative built a "kongsi" (literally: Clan Hall) to serve as gathering places for the clan and hear out their grievances and try to help out.

The criminal element comes in when said kongsis are used to subvert legal channels. Usually Chinese villages have to contact their local prefect first to get something done. Or have to pay tolls for their products entering cities & major marketplaces. The Kongsis enable them to smuggle in goods in the city via backdoor channels. Also the Rich Kongsis could subvert legal channels by bribing officials higher up the chain (i.e. Magistrates) to go past tolls & the prefects.

The best Kongsis however were the coastal merchantile ones. These cunts were ambitious: they bought ships of their own you see. This isn't illegal really: but they forged a smuggling empire in SEA when the Kongsis established private colonies in Southeast Asian islands in order to not only trade with the locals, but to hide smuggled goods. They also did piracy at the sides.

>>1577446

I guess that explains how Chinese ended up building a republic on Borneo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanfang_Republic

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Cilicia used to be known for its inordinate amount of pirate gangs that would prey on , so much that the Romans during the Republic organized an armed intervention to destroy the various pirate bases on Cilicia and Cyprus and whatever cities harbored them and to scatter them.

Does that count?